Andriy Vorobey: "The best player of the Ukrainian national team? There can be no two opinions"

Former Shakhtar and Ukraine striker Andriy Vorobey commented on the Blue and Yellows' June matches.

- Compared to the game against Northern Macedonia, Serhii Rebrov made four changes to the starting line-up of our national team. How did Konoplya, Malinowski, Kryvtsov and Vanat perform in this match?

- Even before the match, Serhii Stanislavovych said that he would make some rotations. Mudryk, as we already know, was injured and could not play. Konoplya's appearance was justified, because Tymchyk played poorly in Skopje in the first half.

The appearance of Kryvtsov... The coaching staff saw what kind of shape he was in, although he had to travel from the USA to the national team's location for more than a day.

We know Malinowski's level. But Vanat's appearance among the 11 players in the starting line-up surprised me. It seems to me that it was Artem Dovbyk who should have done better against the powerful Maltese defenders. But in Vanat's defence, I want to say that he earned the right to play in the main team with his quality performance in the spring.

- Let's move on to the first half. Why after a good 15 minutes of the match, then the game of our national team just fell apart

- At first I thought that the Maltese would put a bus at their goal. Everyone in the football world understood who was the favourite in the Ukraine-Malta match. But, surprisingly, in the first half, the guests did not sit at their goal and even pressed our guys near Trubin's penalty area.

I liked the performance of the Maltese national team in the first half. Our players probably did not expect such agility from their opponents. For example, Vanat's goal in the opening goal (after a flank shot and a subsequent shot) could have ended in defeat. And the guests had their own good moment when Matvienko made a mistake. I think the first half could have ended in a draw. A 1-1 scoreline would have been natural. And I wouldn't say that the Ukrainian national team has a first-half syndrome, as many people say. This is the merit of the opponents.

- Doesn't it seem that Mykola Matvienko feels out of his depth playing as a left-back? Mykola made too many mistakes in the national team...

- We know that Matvienko can play well both in the centre of defence and on the wing. Following the matches against Germany, Northern Macedonia and Malta, we can conclude that Mykola is very tired. After all, he plays from whistle to whistle at Shakhtar. I think that Matvienko, as they say, has eaten too much. It is clear that he is not working hard enough in defence, and this is always dangerous. His replacement was begging for it, and Rebrov replaced him at half-time. With Mykolenko coming on, it was necessary to shake up the game, to change something in it.

- What did you think about when Yarmolenko missed a penalty in the second half opener?

- Even before the eleven-metre penalty, I said that we needed Tsygankov to take it. Viktor is now in good emotional and physical shape. You can see that Tsygankov is improving in the game. It's clear that Andriy Yarmolenko just wanted to bring the Ukrainian national team forward. He was not thinking about records and chasing Shevchenko in the national team's scoring register. As a captain and experienced footballer, Andriy came to the point.

Yarmolenko didn't score, and I immediately thought that we would continue to suffer with Malta. Anyway, we all had faith in the final victory, but we had to score goals.

- Was the second penalty against Malta awarded correctly?

- There was contact between Yarmolenko and the visiting defender. You can see that Yarmolenko started to fall early in the penalty area, but Andriy's opponent did not remove his foot, and there was minimal contact. The VAR system was working at the game. There are experienced judges there, and they saw everything. It wasn't a 100% penalty, but it was there. I know that the Maltese expressed dissatisfaction with the award of this eleven-metre penalty. Compared to the first penalty, there were more reasons to award it.

- Andrii, if you look at the statistical indicators, the Ukrainian national team surpassed Malta in all key parameters. Shots - 16:3, ball possession - 62% to 38%, etc. But on the football field, everything was difficult. Why?

- I think that the final result, namely the victory of our team, does not raise questions. But these figures are the result of our guys' performance in the second half. Let's be honest - the first half performance of our players was not good. It was clear that the opponents were tired after the break. But we won thanks to our skill. Ukraine crushed the Maltese national team.

- How would you rate the performance of the newcomer Vladyslav Vanat. As well as his violent collision with the opponent's goalkeeper, after which he was replaced and sent to the clinic for examination?

- Vlad is only 21 years old. His emotions are understandable, because it was the first time he played in the main squad of our first team. He is a good boy, you can see his efforts. Vanat was nervous, he wanted to score a goal. I think everything is ahead. Vlad had a good season at Dynamo. I liked that he responded to every shot, every pass. What about the episode with the visitors' goalkeeper? I don't think it was on purpose on the part of our forward. Vanat did not have time to move his leg, such collisions happen. Of course, you can't hit a goalkeeper on purpose.

- Who is the best player in our national team for you?

- There can be no two opinions here. Viktor Tsygankov constantly sharpened the game and acted in favour of the team.

- In the 12 days that Serhii Rebrov has been coaching our national team, has he squeezed the maximum out of it?

- I think so. Sergei Stanislavovich has little time. It is difficult to play something up, to invent tactical exercises. Now the result is important in the selection for the European Championship. The Ukrainian national team has scored six points. Now our coaching staff will have time to analyse everything in the summer. And the players are resting after a hard season. Of course, it is important to conduct a proper analysis of these three games that the Ukrainian national team played in June. Time will pass and no one will remember what kind of game our players showed in Skopje and Trnava. But the result will remain forever.

- On 9 September, the Ukrainians will play their next home match, this time against England, and on 12 September, we will play an away match against Italy in Milan. Will everything be decided for us in this confrontation?

- Undoubtedly, all football fans will have very interesting and important matches. England and Italy are easier to tune in to. Everyone is looking forward to games with such serious opponents. In my opinion, the English will not fall below second place in our group. We will see them at Euro 2024. We are more concerned about the game at the San Siro. You can't lose in a head-to-head with Italy. We all expect Oleksandr Zinchenko and Roman Yaremchuk to return to action. I think Zinchenko's role in our national team is important. And maybe by the autumn, Kochergin and Rusyn will be in good shape. We will see them in the national team. Let's see, there is still time before these most important matches.